Tony Abbott has told an elated coalition they can only briefly savour their election victory before delivering on their promise to earn public's trust.
The prime minister elect gave a measured address to the coalition MPs and senators at parliament house on Friday, saying they should be proud of their efforts but had to get on with the job of being a better government than the last.
"We have won the trust of the Australian people, our challenge now is to earn it and to keep it," Mr Abbott told his Liberal and Nationals colleagues at the first joint-party meeting since winning government.
"Our task is but briefly to savour the moment. Our task is to give a great country and a great people the better government that the people of Australia deserve.
"That is our task and we will now move purposely, calmly, methodically to deliver on our election commitments to build a stronger economy for a stronger Australia."
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Mr Abbott said the challenges facing the incoming government were "considerable", it must now stop the boats, scrap the carbon tax and return the budget to surplus.
Mr Abbott's ministry will be sworn in next week but has yet to be announced and his government is facing the pressures of responsibility.
His Liberal deputy, incoming foreign minister Julie Bishop, is playing down troubles with government border protection policy even before it is formally outlined next week.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has said his country won't accept key parts of the coalition's plan to stop asylum seeker boats arriving from Indonesia, including its controversial boat buy back plan.
Ms Bishop says discussions with Indonesia would be conducted face-to-face, and not "through the media".
"The coalition will discuss and, where appropriate, negotiate all aspects of our border protection policies during formal bilateral meetings with Indonesian officials in coming weeks and months," she said in a statement.
Highlighting the difficulties, Australian authorities have intercepted four asylum seeker boats since the election despite the coalition pledge to make an immediate difference.
Newly-elected Nationals deputy Barnaby Joyce could also raise tensions with Indonesia with his threats to campaign against Jakarta's plans to purchase a million hectares of Australian land for cattle breeding.
The loss of Sophie Mirabella, who has asked not to be considered as she trails an independent in her seat, is raising concerns there may be only one woman in Mr Abbott's cabinet. "All women in the coalition are outstanding but there are some who clearly are excellent contributors," Liberal MP Steve Ciobo told reporters.
"We base our decisions and no doubt he (Tony Abbott) will base his decisions on the basis of merit."
